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About Maya Sarkisyan

Maya Sarkisyan is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture Physician, Certified Hypnotist, and licensed Master NLP Practitioner. She holds a Master degree in Acupuncture specializing in Five Element tradition, certified by National Certified Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and by the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association.
Maya's full-time private practice is located in Delray Beach, FL.

July 20, 2009 — U.S. News & World Report has released its annual “honor roll” of America’s best medical centers, and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore is at the top of the list for the 19th straight year.

The top 21 hospitals all earned high scores in at least six of 16 specialties, ranging from cancer and geriatric care to orthopaedics and urology.

Scores were based on both objective measures — such as mortality rates, patient safety, and other care-related factors — and subjective measures, such as reputation.

“I think these rankings are extremely meaningful to an extremely small number of patients, relatively speaking, who represent a very small piece of the patient population but whose need for a very high quality of care is extreme,” Avery Comarow, the U.S. News & World Report statistician who compiled and analyzed the data, tells WebMD. “These rankings are not at all intended for those who need relatively routine procedures.”

The ‘Best Hospitals’ for 2009

Hospitals are listed below by total points. Here are the 21 hospitals that made the magazine’s honor roll (two are tied for 10th place):

American Hospital Association Senior Vice President Rick Wade tells WebMD that hospitals that made the honor roll and those that were ranked in the 16 specialty groups were generally teaching hospitals “with the most cutting-edge research and technology.”

Wade says that hospitals that didn’t score enough points to make a list should be avoided.

“You can investigate on your own,” he says. “For people who don’t live near a Hopkins, there are many community hospitals that have very good records.”

Arthur Caplan, PhD, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, tells WebMD that lists for most people “are almost useless. The only data of value is on specific doctors, treating cases analogous to your own.”

Rankings “are a quality perspective from 75,000 feet when what the prospective patient needs is precision at ground level about particular doctors doing particular things in situations close to the one the patient has,” Caplan says.

SOURCES:

News release, U.S. News & World Report.

U.S. News & World Report: “America’s Best Hospitals.”

Avery Comarow, health rankings editor, U.S. News & World Report.

Arthur Caplan, PhD, director, Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania.

Rick Wade, senior vice president, American Hospital Association.

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Metabolism related disorders can really sneak up on you with no warning. Actually almost any disease can, the question is what you can do to prevent it or to manage it. There are many articles around how to prevent various disorders but, really, there are so many of them you don’t even want to know. Plus, it can create an anxiety to think about that. Before attending Chinese medicine school I had no idea about the variety of diseases, and at some point in the western medicine section of my education, particularly pathology, I even freaked out looking at all these scary photos. The bottom line is you never know what your genetic blueprint is exactly going to produce, what new flu is about to emerge, and which next food choice would be proved dangerous. I’m not even mentioning numerous prescription and over-the-counter drugs with various issues. However the reality, there is not so much you can do to control external environment, even by washing your hands and buying organic. Don’t take me wrong, please by all means take precautions – watch your diet, visit your doctor for regular checkups, follow the news on health and nutrition. And whatever happens – stay calm. It is your internal environment you can control to make decisions from the balanced and educated mood.

Many of us experienced scary moments when dreadful news are delivered to us and loved ones about the disease that has no cure and at the best can be managed with medications or nothing at all – just wait and see. Probably the scariest of all is placing your fate to the hands of your doctor while “googling” for hours, asking friends, pacing back and forth, screaming at heavens, feeling powerless. Then you have to make a decision – either disease has you – or – you have been diagnosed with the disease. I would strongly advocate for the second choice simply because it leaves you with the power to choose what to do from the place of your own unique constitution – on all levels. The disease never manifests exactly the same for everyone, and never can be treated exactly the same. The limitation here is what you already know vs what you don’t know yet.

The rule of thumb: never give up. The miraculous cures are recorded over and over again – while you have a hope you have a chance. Don’t believe a doctor who takes hope away from you, it is your health and your body – you have the right to press for answers, demand explanations, copies of your medical records, and consultations about other choices. Turn your attention to alternative medicine. A good medical doctor never blindly dismisses an alternative option – he will study it and give you his/her opinion. Some doctors don’t have time to educate themselves about other kinds of medicine and you can encourage them to do so. More and more medical doctors embrace acupuncture, nutrition, homeopathy, and other modalities in their practice or in collaboration with other practitioners. It all comes down to what patient will benefit from the most, and the safety of therapies integration. It is equally important to provide your alternative medicine doctor with copies of your lab results, especially if you are looking to benefit from herbal medicine or nutrition care.

We are lucky to live now – the age of technology. Modern and ancient medicines are dancing together building bridges between top-notch machines and dried herb decoctions, brain surgeries and homeopathy. Using it all you can expand your choices and the most important – build a well-defined plan to heal yourself using the expertise of doctors and specialists you trust.

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Quitting smoking is one of the best decisions people can make in their life. In my practice I use hypnosis to help people quitting and it is always effective when there is a commitment not only to quit but to achieve goals in various areas of your life that are incompatible with smoking. It is helpful to write your goals on a piece of paper and post it on your bathroom wall, or in your office where you will always see it. After you quit it is important to track
your progress so you can feel getting closer to some of these goals. This way you are encouraged to keep on track and find even more resources to help you achieving your goals.

As any recreational drugs or alcohol, smoking cigarettes harms the liver, digestive system, cardiovascular system and many other body functions. From the Chinese medical point of view nicotine is a very hot substance which enters smoker’s blood through the lungs and dries up capillaries, veins, and arteries.

After you quit smoking it is preferable to maintain the positive attitude towards new healthier life ahead of you. Time after time I see people who quit and have absolutely no withdrawal symptoms and no body weight changes. It proves the point that mind and body successfully work together when you make a strong decision to improve your health. However, because smoking affects body functions, gaining extra weight afterwards can happen for some people – and the good news that there is something you can do about it besides maintaining your exercise routine and counting calories.

There are a few tips of how to deal with the quitting smoking aftermath:

1. Every morning immediately after waking up drink a glass of water (room temperature) with squeezed 1/2 lemon. It will help to detoxify the liver. It will make your liver happy, as according to Chinese medicine “liver likes sour taste”, and it will gladly perform its daily functions.

3. Check out in your area for the ear acupuncture detoxification treatments (NADA). It involves relaxing in the chair with hair-thin acupuncture needles inserted in specific points on your ears. It is one of the best and proven techniques to detoxify and rebuild your body after years of smoking or any drug / alcohol addiction. It is helping your liver, lungs, kidneys, heart, and nervous system to recover. And yes, it is painless – needles are tiny.

4. Hang out with non-smoking friends more often.

5. Start juicing! Have a fresh squeezed juice instead of a snack.

6. Talk to your nutritionist or alternative medicine practitioner about amino acids. It might be beneficial for you to take some specific amino acid supplements for a period of time.

There are so much more in life you can do as a non-smoker with your lungs full of fresh clean air, with your hair and clothes smelling fresh, and free to control your own health. And the best news is that in only a few years your body will complete restoring all the systems affected by that old habit.

So… please sit down, take a deep breath and make a decision to live.

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As strange as it sounds some athletes keep a special diet to have their metabolism low – and to get fat! I’m talking about Rikishis – the official term for sumo wrestlers. The Sumo wrestling is a traditional Japanese contact sport when two almost naked and incredibly fat guys trying to overthrow each other or to push each other off the court. Of course the competitors should be very strong and stable, so they exercise daily; however one of the most important components is keeping the weight extra heavy. The average rikishi weight starts from 400 lbs –and it is considered to be lightweight…

Let’s look at your typical diet/lifestyle plan just in case you decide to become a rikishi:

1. Skip breakfast. You need to keep your metabolism low to avoid losing weight.
2. Definitely overeat at night to store the extra energy as fat.
3. Eat only twice a day and eat a LOT! Get extra big servings of high fat content food.
4. Sleep at least four hours immediately after each meal.
5. Make sure you eat close to 20K calories a day.
6. Exercise on an empty stomach to keep your metabolism even lower.
7. Drink lots and lots of beer. Alcohol increases cortisol levels which creates a layer of fat around the belly. This way your abdominal area will become the “beer belly”!
8. Eat socially as much as you can. Research shows that people who eat socially consume at least thirty percent more calories and eat almost twice more.

Sadly enough this plan closely resembles the lifestyle of an average American. Except that the exercise is often out of question in our overloaded daily routine.

So, next time you decide to skip breakfast or overeat at night- think: do you really want to pursue a rikishi career? As for the most people the named above plan is the sure way to accumulate extra fat extra fast. So watch what and how you are eating; you might just turn into a (really weak) sumo wrestler!

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What does it mean to be present? Many self-development books, TV shows, and people are talking about it, however how is it applicable to the healthy metabolism conversation? As we are constantly making choices about how to live our lives, our body is making choices how to sustain this life by providing constant chemical reactions in order to create biologically essential components and to break down organic matter. So it is all about choices we make, because our mind and body are inseparable and always in synch. If they get out of synch we might develop physical or emotional illness.
Therefore our choices about everyday life directly affect how our body functions process everything we feed it with – whether it is a physical substance or the mental thought. Staying consciously present means paying attention to every choice we are facing and deciding on the action to take about this choice. Often in life we are acting out of habit choosing the path of less resistance – eating this doughnut, drinking this extra cup of coffee, gossiping about the neighbor, obsessing about that conversation… It is important to realize that all of it is a material for our body to process and make a decision what to do with it. Our body is smart, it will do the best it can with what it got, however way too often we supply it with the material difficult to digest. And we do it because way too often we run on the autopilot not paying attention on the signals our body is constantly sending us.
Sometimes right before doing something I ask myself “Is it going to give me pleasure or happiness?” And if the answer is “pleasure” I think twice about doing it. Staying present, listening to my body, evaluating my surrounding and my situation. How this choice will benefit me as a person, how it will affect my life? I might choose” pleasure” after all, but it will be my conscious choice at that specific time and space.

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I found this phrase on a teacup at the Japanese restaurant while enjoying a lengthy health discussion with one of my friends. By the way, in case you don’t drink alcohol at all, read on anyway.

It is known that excessive alcohol intake can lead to various issues on many levels. However, not all of us know the implications it can create. Having a glass of wine or a bear had been a part of the social ritual for a long time and perhaps will continue to be for years to come. Not all cultures accept it as a part of the society, but European and American societies takes social alcohol drinking as a norm. In my teenage years, a glass of hot spiced wine was often prescribed in treating various blood circulation disorders. So, while having the alcohol as a part of our lives and our diet it is worth to learn more about it and about the connection between alcohol and metabolism.

Perhaps the most interesting fact about ethyl alcohol is that the human body grants it the first priority to metabolize because it is readily mixes with water on the molecular level. Right after consumption it is distributed through the body in the blood stream. For the same reason it is readily crosses the “blood brain barrier” – that is why it affects our perceptions, balance, and other biological functions so quickly. Ethyl alcohol can also be absorbed into the blood through the skin and the air.
However, the liver, being the primary site of alcohol metabolism, takes the highest toll from excessive drinking. The process permanently changes the liver cell structure and impairs the liver’s ability to metabolize fats. Fat accumulates in the liver and the overall balance of proper nutrient absorption gets affected.
If you are one of people who are looking to balance your weight please take a closer look at how much alcohol you consume. It is equally important to notice your reasons for drinking, time of day, food you eat with it and your moods before and after. Some people tend to eat more after a drink and often don’t notice the quantity and quality of the food they eat. Social drinking is often accompanied by “junk” food such as salted and roasted nuts, greasy chips, as well as deep fried fatty foods. It is beneficial to eat a full healthy meal before such gatherings, as it will allow you to eat less of such foods.
I would like to advocate for very moderate alcohol consumption or even none at all. However if you still consider it, there are good tips of how to do it smart – it is worth putting some effort in more detailed research.
And the most important of all – drink plenty of water. Alcohol has a toxic and dehydrating effect on the body and drinking water will help you to detoxify quicker.

And overall it is perhaps the #1 health tip all health practitioners agree on – to make sure you are properly hydrated through your day.

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We are in the middle of the holiday season, and for most of us it is also a wonderful and stressful season at the same time. We travel, host friends and relatives, throw big parties, attend big parties, eat delicious meals, indulge in entertainment venues, and so on. Sometimes our plans don’t work out quite as we expect and we get stressed and anxious.

As you already know, stress impacts metabolic functions in your body. It happens for a good reason of survival, as our nature to survive activates body’s basic ability to run for your life when stressful events happen. You will digest food and absorb your nutrients later when you are safe and out of danger. This is the basic survival mechanism. It is often not how much and what you eat and drink during these few holiday weeks, but how you eat, in what mood, and for what reason. Of course, if you already have issues with your metabolism, you should watch your diet however stress amplifies the damage while it doesn’t have to.

Holidays is a good time to apply any stress reduction techniques you already know – meditation, self-hypnosis, Epsom salt baths, aromatherapy, massage, and anything else you know. I would like to share with you two stress reduction techniques you can apply instantaneously so you will be able to dissipate the upcoming negative emotion.

1. www.emofree.com – Emotional Freedom Technique – EFT. Easy to practice it helps you to relax within seconds and neutralizes emotion, pain, or negative thought. Being so easy to learn and practice, it became one of the most widespread practices. You can do it anywhere – in the airplane, in your car, at your house, at the restaurant bathroom, etc. EFT process can be briefly described as tapping on specific face and body points while speaking out loud the affirmation of your choice. At first it looks unusual, but soon you will get used to it and enjoy the results it brings.
It is absolutely FREE to learn, and you can get materials and watch videos online. We can thank Gary Craig, EFT founder and wonderful person, for creating the system and making it so available.

2. Practice dissociating yourself from negative memories. For example, you are expecting visitors you associate some negative memories with. Even thought of seeing them makes your heart beat faster, and you get irritated. You can do the following to free yourself of this feeling. While sitting comfortably, close your eyes and vividly remember last time you had a confrontation with them. Do you see yourself in that memory as it is a movie, or you see everything around you from your own eyes? If you see everything around you in that memory, the chances are you are fully associated with it and reliving these emotions all over again. It is possible to change your emotional charge by simply changing the perception of this memory. Close your eyes again and watch this event as a movie with you playing one of the roles. See yourself in this movie. Now move it farther away from you on a TV distance and make it black and white – just like an old movie. Play with the distance, color, and/or quality, and move it farther or closer. Notice how your emotions are changing. Now, in your imagination, install a glass door between you and that movie. Notice how your emotions dissipate. This way you can override negative emotions associated with old memories. You can repeat this exercise a few more times with other memories associated with your upcoming visitors. After a while, you will be surprised to find yourself much calmer when your visitors arrive.

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“The place of absolute tranquility… the gentle water bubbles are surfacing to the blue serenity of the mountain lake… Ah… what a joy…”

“MOM!!!! WHERE IS MY DINNER??? “ “DAD!!! I AM TAKING YOUR CAR!!!” No kidding, the blue lake just popped in front of your so-called third eye and vanished into who knows what. As a mother of active nine year old boy I personally would laugh out loud at anybody who preaches the wonders of a stress-free life – it just seems impossible in many life situations. Is it really impossible or there are ways to not only cope with stress but to glide through it and come out at the other end unscathed?
It is known that stress, especially the chronic stress can create huge havoc on the physical, mental, and emotional levels. However it is very important to distinguish between the “stress triggers” and the “stress response mechanism” activated by your body. While encountering a stressful situation your body automatically shifts to the “fight or flight” mode. This response is very beneficial if you are about to run away from the grizzly bear chasing you in the woods. Your body is capable of immediately shutting down hundreds of ongoing processes such as digestion, reproduction, hormone regulation in order to activate other processes important for your immediate survival.

Now, the body reacts the same exact way either if you are stressed about running away from the grizzly bear or if you are sitting on your couch watching TV about 700 billion dollars bailout. With one simple difference – there is absolutely no physical need for your body to shut down your digestion and hormone regulation while watching news on TV. But it is happening anyway. Now, think about how many times you encounter stressful situations during your typical day.

It is not the fact of stressful events occurring in our life that wear us out – it’s the way we react to them. It means we can control some of the impact affecting our life by changing our lifestyle and our way of thinking. And it can be fun to do!

These are the three basic components in stress management:
1. Learn how to shift your attention quickly and how to use your primary senses to lessen the impact of the stressful event.
2. Nourish your body with a balanced diet supporting your well-being and avoid foods that aggravate stress.
3. Adopt a regular and fulfilling spiritual practice.

We will talk about all these topics, and in my next article I will share with you the ways of re-patterning your mind in order to handle stressful situations effectively.

It still remains the hottest topic of the day (after the presidential elections of course!) – How to lose weight. People are looking for a magic pill, one-hour surgery, 3-day cleanse, and vast variety of other short term solutions. Thousands of dollars are spent on fad diets, newest nutrition books, fancy kitchen appliances, and so on. It is quite understandable approach as the modern life seems to deprive us from the option of investing personal time in maintaining a healthy balance in our body, mind, and spirit. However, the question is how effective and healthy are these short term solutions. Can we really appear lean, fit, and wrinkle-free while leading stressful life and maintaining the old emotional habits? Can we feel good and healthy while sleeping less than needed and skipping routine medical checkups? The trick is that most of us already know the answer to these questions, though something seems to stand on the way between the knowledge and the action – something subtle yet very powerful… Something invisible that can be consciously brought into play to achieve our goals easily and naturally while staying happy and healthy. It is called the “Subconscious Mind”.

In our new forumhttp://www.metabolism.com/health-and-nutrition-forum/forum/alternatives
we will explore the ways to find and properly utilize your internal resources in order to help you live the life you deserve. We will talk about how such tools as hypnosis, NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), acupuncture, energy balancing, and other methods can help you on your path to the health and happiness.

I welcome you to ask questions and start discussions on the topics you would like to explore. Stay tuned!